The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams, each fielding two drivers: Red Bull Racing, Mercedes, Ferrari, Lotus, McLaren, Force India, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams, Marussia, and Caterham. Pirelli supplied four different tyre compounds for the race: the soft "primes" and supersoft "options" for dry conditions, and intermediate and full wet compounds for wet weather. The drag reduction system (DRS) had two activation zones: one on the start/finish straight and another between turns 2 and 3.
Going into the race, Nico Rosberg led the Drivers' Championship with 140 points, followed by Lewis Hamilton on 118 points and Daniel Ricciardo on 79. Fernando Alonso was fourth with 69 points, and Sebastian Vettel was fifth with 60 points. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led with 258 points, with Red Bull in second on 139 points. Ferrari (87 points) and Force India (77 points) contended for third, while McLaren was fifth with 66 points. Mercedes had dominated the championship, winning six of the previous seven races, with Ricciardo taking victory at the Canadian Grand Prix. Kevin Magnussen had achieved one second-place finish, while Jenson Button, Vettel (twice), Sergio Pérez, and Alonso had secured third-place podium finishes.
Nico Rosberg was the fastest in the first free practice session with a lap time of 1:11.295. Lewis Hamilton topped the second free practice session with a time of 1:09.542, and Valtteri Bottas was fastest in the third session with 1:09.848.
Williams driver Felipe Massa claimed pole position with a Q3 lap time of 1:08.759, becoming the first driver other than Hamilton or Rosberg to do so in 2014. He was joined on the front row by teammate Valtteri Bottas, marking Williams' first front-row lockout since Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher at the 2003 German Grand Prix.
Hamilton failed to post a time in Q3, starting ninth after a penalty for Sergio Pérez was applied. On his first flying lap in Q3, Hamilton ran wide at the final corner, exceeding track limits, and his lap time was deleted despite being 0.4 seconds faster than Bottas' provisional pole time through the first two sectors. On his second and final lap, Hamilton locked his rear brakes and spun at turn 2. Sebastian Vettel failed to reach Q3, though his teammate Daniel Ricciardo did.
At the start, Massa led the field into the first corner. Rosberg initially passed Bottas but was repassed on the following straight. Hamilton gained five places on the first lap, passing two cars into the first corner, two more towards turn 2, and another from Fernando Alonso at turn 7. He ended the first lap 0.9 seconds behind his teammate, despite starting ninth. Sebastian Vettel experienced technical problems, losing drive on the first lap and attempting to retire on lap two. His car then regained drive, allowing him to continue a lap down. After damaging his front wing, he retired from Red Bull Racing's home Grand Prix on lap 34.
The Mercedes cars passed the Williams cars during the pitstop phases by stopping earlier and undercutting them. Rosberg passed both Williams drivers during the first round of stops, and Hamilton took second position during the second round, despite two slow pit stops. Sergio Pérez drove a strategic race with a different tyre strategy, using the supersoft compound only for the final 16 laps. He successfully challenged Kevin Magnussen for sixth place, having started sixteenth due to a grid penalty.
Both Mercedes cars managed overheating brake issues for much of the race. On lap 55, Hamilton was held up by backmarkers, losing approximately a second. In the final laps, Hamilton slowly gained on Rosberg, and despite losing a total of 1.9 seconds to his teammate through slower pit stops, he began the final lap 1.1 seconds behind. However, he was not close enough to challenge Rosberg and backed off at the end of the lap. Rosberg took the chequered flag for his third win of the season.
As a result of the race, Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead to 29 points, the largest it had been all season. Lewis Hamilton expressed frustration with his slow pit stops but considered second place a "good result" given his qualifying position. Fernando Alonso, who finished closely behind Felipe Massa and with a smaller gap to Mercedes than usual, described the race as his best of the season so far.
The race was notable for Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff, who, as a shareholder of both Mercedes and his former team Williams, effectively held some ownership of the first, second, third, and fourth-placed cars. This achievement occurred at the Austrian's home race. Valtteri Bottas scored his first career Formula One podium with his third-place finish.
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